Buckley quit Collingwood midway through last season after 10 years and more than 200 games in charge of the club, including their run to the 2018 AFL Grand Final.

Speaking to The Border Mail, the 49-year-old insisted he wouldn't be rushing into a decision about the next chapter of his professional life.

"You don't really know what to fill a space with until it feels right," Buckley said

"I don't know exactly whether I'm going to go back and coach again or whether that passion I always had for coaching is still going to be there when the dust settles.

"I don't know whether something else is going to pop in there but I was of the opinion I needed to leave that space there as long as I could to see what was going to come into it.

"I see the next 12 months as being open to experiences and following a few threads that are there for me, both inside football and out, to find out where that settles."

Buckley, speaking at the Albury Tigers season launch, stressed that he would only return to coaching in the AFL and wouldn't consider taking a role in local football.

ALSO IN SPORT

"I think once you've been at that level, it's the cut and thrust and the real elite," Buckley said.

"The performance aspect of it really drives that and I would find it pretty difficult to go anywhere else.

"The other aspect of that is the fundamental of coaching is helping people on their journeys, the counselling and mentoring part of it.

"It's not just what the team looks like and how it plays every weekend or develops along the journey but how the individuals within it develop as well.

"There might be a way of doing that more and feeding that animal outside of the sporting environment.

"I do love that side of it and I'll see whether there's a capacity of being able to help people in a more broad sense than just as the senior coach of a footy club."

Buckley's advice for players transitioning into coaching is simple.

"Just throw yourself into it," he said.

"Enjoy every moment because it won't last forever and don't sweat the small stuff."

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